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Go to a mall in the morning and you expect it to be deserted. But the place is filled with students, who’re either rushing to catch the morning show of a movie (tickets cost lesser in the mornings, you know), doing some window shopping, or hanging out with their boyfriends/girlfriends or pals from college. They swear by malls when it comes to spending time with pals during mornings/college hours.

 For final year BE student Shruti Kashinath and her friends, bunking college and visiting the newly opened mall nearby is a fun activity. “Nowadays, we don’t have classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so we don’t have to bunk class. If it’s for a movie, we go around 11 in the morning.  After the movie, we go to the food court and gobble up the food!” she laughs adding that it’s usually a group of six or seven that goes for these morning mall visits.
Says Abhijit P., an engineering student, who often visits malls in the morning with his friends or girlfriend, “In the morning, movie tickets are priced at Rs 80 or 100, which is cheaper than the afternoon and evening rates. When I go to malls in the mornings, I see only couples. If we don’t go for a movie, we sit in the food court and chat for hours. But if we go to a restaurant in the morning, it’s not only expensive, but we’ll also have to leave after a while. At malls, we end up buying affordable eatables like Mc Donald’s or KFC burgers. Malls do business in the mornings only ‘cos of students!”
Nineteen-year-old Trishala Ashok says she sees many students mall hopping in the mornings. “I’ve seen them carry big bags with change of clothes (they must’ve escaped from school!). I’ve even heard of students jumping off from college walls to watch movies in malls,” laughs the media studies student from CMS.
Malls are less crowded in the mornings and the air-conditioning makes them comfortable places to visit, feels Trishala. “Also, movie tickets are cheaper in the mornings, which is good as we have to be careful while spending our pocket money. We also go bowling at times. I see many couples hangout in malls as there are lesser chances of getting caught by family or relatives during the day,” says Trishala, who would bunk college and go mall hopping to watch a movie if it starred Robert Downey Junior, Jennifer Aniston or Gerard Butler. Looks like morning mall hopping is here to stay for youngistaan!

Ikyatha Yerasala
The Asian Age